Housing, Healing, Hope

AM Housing Inc. is a nonprofit organization in Kirksville, Missouri founded by former Mayor Glen Moritz. After serving on city council, Glen had experience in other successful grassroots movements in the community like fundraising to start up Take Root. He was introduced to the issue of homelessness through United Way, and began to develop a way to help those in need. This organization, AM Housing Inc., is named after his late son, Andrew Moritz, in honor of the way he led his life of serving others.

Now, this group currently includes other community members and Truman students. This group has been fundraising since Fall of 2017 with one goal in mind: Our mission is to provide shelter, awaken hope, and honor dignity in every person who seeks comfort, support, or assistance through our programs in the NEMO area. So far, the organization has raised a fair amount of money, but can use as much help as possible to obtain a building that can serve the community in the coming year. We’re a fully recognized 501c3.

This organization came into existence after seeing the need of transitional housing in the area. Here are some notable facts:

-   90 overcrowded homes in Adair County
-   $40,000+ spent annually on motel vouchers (one-night stays) by Kirksville churches, Red Cross, and Salvation Army annually (which is not helping anyone long-term)
-   16 of the 115 assisted families in NEMO applying for HUD housing in 2018 were homeless
-   Many other home-insecure individuals are stuck couch-surfing with no viable way to become independent again.
-   Many people can't get jobs because they don't have an address and/or don't have documentation.
-   Nearest shelter in Milan, MO is far from Kirksville and focused more on permanent housing.
-   Preferred Family Healthcare has expressed the need for a safe environment to discharge people to after rehabilitation